How To Lay Plywood Flooring On Joists

Laying your first piece in the outside corner of the floor you want the long dimension of the plywood to lay across six joists with the final edge ending up in the center of the 6th joist.

How to lay plywood flooring on joists.

The plywood sheets lay perpendicular to the floor joists. This is the typical structure of a floor. Wood floor fitting over joists. Regarding my 3 8 exterior grade plywood which i am almost ready to apply for a floating wood floor as my theory went since the grain seems to run lengthwise along the 8 length laying the panels parallel to the joists would allow the cross grain 4 length to span between perpendicular to the joists where the added stiffness is desired.

If your attic joists won t bear the weight necessary to finish out a living space but the engineer cleared them to support floor decking for light storage you can install inch plywood or. 3 4 inch plywood subfloor preparation. To answer directly to the question yes it is entirely possible to install a hardwood directly on top of the joists. Lay down 3 4 in 1 9 cm tongue and groove plywood panels over the joists then use wood glue or panel adhesive and galvanized flooring nails to secure each panel around its edges.

Work in small sections until the entire floor is covered. First renail the existing plywood subfloor so that the old nails are tight and add new nails to achieve a maximum nail spacing of 6 inches. Typical floor joists in residential construction sit on 16 inch centers but depending on the framing the joists might be. If the subfloor is stiff enough there is no reason why solid nail down strip flooring can t be run parallel to the joists.

A flooring contractor howard brickman responds. These joists are stronger than comparable solid wood joists provide a 66 larger nailing surface for the plywood. The second floor of this house is built with 2 x 10 wood i joists joists that resemble steel i beams and are 9 5 inches thick 16 on center and spanning 13 5 feet. If you were to run your plywood the opposite direction then the board would only connect 3 joists.